Tea-bagging an Arduino

[Dmitry Narkevich] likes a strong cup of tea and his method of getting there is to oscillate the tea bag as it steeps. But why take the time to do this when you can make an Arduino brew your tea for you. As you can see, he rigged up a system to move the tea bag as it steeps in his metal bottle.

The motion is provided by a hobby servo connected to an Arduino. This makes timing the process very simple and we’d imaging it’s only a matter of time before he adds an alarm so he’ll know when it’s ready. But the real hack comes in the apparatus that connects the servo to the bottle. Since he’ll be drinking out of it the assembly needs to be easy to remove and should be able to stand up to the abuse of being clamped on and taken off a few times each day.

The base of the device is a guitar capo. This is meant to gently clamp to the finger board of a guitar using spring tension so it is already covered in rubber which gives it a firm grip on the bottle’s opening. The servo is connected to a metal part from a stapler, and the string drapes over the body of a disposable pen. Don’t miss this in action in the clip after the break.

I was think that a Sterling Engine might be appropriate here. I steep my tea bit differently. I boil the water, then pour it over the tea bags and then let the pot sit on a warmer for a while (say 45 minutes – hour). Then it starts to get a bit strong. With a Sterling Engine I might only let it sit for 30 minutes.

I only wish I had the vast amounts of obviously useless cash these guys come up with for buying ardunioiooioioo or whatever it is boards and servos to waste on a single thing, doing nothing. At the very least an 8 pin AVR (PIC man myself) could be doing this…

So quit complaining and get a better job, buy yourself some pics and do it your own way. Just because you think you can do it with less doesn’t mean this guy can, will or should ever feel the need to. You work with what you have, and in many cases, we only have a bunch of these easy to work with boards. Comes down to preference , skill level etc. A waste would be not using them at all. When you get some tea-bagging pics, let me know.

Agreed, aside from the “get a better job” (gee, it sounds so simple when you put it like that, my money troubles are over!).

I get tired of seeing ardu-everything, but I understand that it’s the fault of the people submitting and approving the posts, and not the people making the actual things (unless they submitted themselves). I know there’s lots of times I’ve learned, say, a programming language via a project where it was totally the wrong tool for the job. I need a goal to stay motivated, and sometimes I can’t think of anything better. Happens to everybody. v(‘_’)v

Not sure what meaning you have in mind. Perhaps is the same meaning that cause the baggers get angry when anyone calls them teabaggers, although they previously thought it a clever nick name. As far as a joke goes,when I read it, I thought there’s a joke in there somewhere,but I couldn’t come up with one that would be all audience friendly. That the possibility having to explain it to those who are unaware of the unsavory nature of the term.

Haha Yeah any kind of FPS would be a good way of explaining it. But haven’t people people been calling it ‘Victory Squats’ in games recently? Halo 4 has a built it Holo feature, so its all hands free!! lol!

Stateside, Teabagger is derogatory term for supporters of the Tea Party movement.
(Conservatives who want to reduce government intrusion, and taxation by reducing the size of government). Some of the TeaBaggers have proudly accepted the title, and some will staple a tea bag to their outer clothing as a sign of their membership.

Moderator(s): I am NOT trying to start a political discussion, but just trying to clarify what TeaBagger means in the USA.

While it’s difficult to verify my understanding is, that members of the Taxed Enough Already caucus/movement/party where the first to refer to themselves as “tea baggers”. All I can say I first heard it when it was used by a member to to refer to that group. Only became derogatory when the movement became aware of the sexual activity slang reference and didn’t like it. Frat boys call it a prank to convince them selves they aren’t sick turds when they do similar to their “friends”. Me I’m easy to get along with despite that I heard it first used by a member of the movement I compromise by simply referring to them simply as baggers. I’m here a year later because this was link to as related to a current Hackaday post.

If only someone could invent a warm, soft, wet, orifice with some sort of suction type action to perform this very thing with no contracts or commitment and cheaper than a whole ardweeny board and servo. I know some gas station bathrooms and some street corners, but the convenience, safety and legal issues are still a problem.

Arrgh. A much better hack is “go to your local ethnic grocery store and buy a pound of decent loose tea, and get a French Press (if you’re lazy) or a decorative teapot and a filter.” Put the tea into the press, pour in appropriate-temperature water (boiling for black, lower temps for oolong or green), steep a few minutes, then press and pour into your thermos. Your tea will be a lot better, and if you want cheap, it’s easy to get cheap black tea that’s a lot better than teabags.